An Evening I Will Not Forget
by QuickSilverFox3
Summary: One night, one mistake and Draco is in the hospital. But why he's there is a mystery, and Blaise is being mistaken for his boyfriend. But the flowers are nice though... [Medical Muggle AU a side of Floral Muggles for International Wizarding School Championship]


**School: Durmstrang  
Year: 2**  
**Wordcount: 2847**  
**Theme: Medical Muggles AU**  
**Prompts: An Evening I Will Not Forget/Furthest Thing - Dermot Kennedy [Song] (Main); watching someone from afar [action]; teacher [job]**  
**Page breaks used to signify a change in time or place. See bottom of work for prompt explanation**

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"You're an idiot."  
Draco blinked, eyes drifting out of focus as he stared into a sea of white. He felt constrained, weighted down and pressed into the hard mattress. The world was muted save a high whine, a frantic beeping, trapped in silence.

An angel appeared above his panicked eyes, silhouetted in a perfect halo, hand warm against his cheek, their mouth moving but they were too far away, the beeping getting louder and louder-

"Hey. Draco, it's okay, you're okay, everything's okay."  
The world snapped into focus in an instant, panic like ice water in his veins, Blaise's thumb warm against the roughness of stubble on his cheek, the sensation foreign but not unpleasant. His friend looked tired, purple bags weighing down his eyes, normally immaculate hair curling loosely around his face, strands askew and hanging limp. Draco tried to speak but all that came out was a garble, the shrieking beep intruding once more.  
"You're in a hospital," Blaise said urgently, glancing out of the room, eyes tracking something Draco couldn't see. Draco could only stare, head swimming, mind scrambling. What had happened? Why was here? He tried to think back, cast his thoughts through the turbulent grey fog but there was nothing. An expanse of white were his memories should be.

"Ah Mr Malfoy," a nurse called bustling into the room, a flash of green at the edge of his vision as she pulled the curtains closed.  
"The doctor will be here shortly now that you're awake. We just need you to lie still and not panic," she continued brusquely, running a finger down the chart at the foot as his bed. Blaise appeared somewhat frozen, cogs in his head sluggishly turning, thumb still reflexively dragging over Draco's cheek.  
"How long will the doctor be?" Blaise asked hoarsely, "When will he get the tube out so he can speak?"  
The nurse smiled, an almost unsettling thing, automatic from years of practice and as genuine as it could be under the circumstances.  
"I'll try to get them in to look after your partner as soon as possible," she said soothingly, making a few notes on the clipboard and stepping closer to the bed, inspecting the large monitor. Draco stared at Blaise, eyebrows raised in a silent question, unspoken communication a given after many years of friendship. Blaise flicked his gaze towards the nurse, settling back into the chair, twining his fingers with Draco's even as the lack of contact on his face felt like a dismissal. _Wait_, that look meant, _I'll tell you in a moment away from listening ears_.

The nurse smiled once, a more genuine attempt this time, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she looked back at them and slipped out of the room, door clicking shut behind her and giving them as much privacy as possible.

"I-" Blaise tried before stopping, looking at Draco almost helplessly. A knife twisted in Draco's chest, some unknown emotion stealing his breath away. Blaise looked as if he should be the one in a hospital bed, tired and pale, staring at Draco as if he was about to disappear. Draco squeezed his hand as hard as he could, arm trembling with the effort, unable to speak.  
"Do you remember what happened?" Blaise asked, voice low, barely above a whisper. Draco shook his head, wrinkling his nose at the flare of pain that small action produced.  
"We were both at that beach party that Pansy was insistent on throwing and us both attending even though it was a school night for you, and I had that project," Blaise broke off to shake his head, smile wistful, "Couldn't even drink at it cause I said I'd drive us."  
Draco squeezed Blaise's hand once again, drawing the man's gaze back onto him and tapped the back of his wrist with a finger.  
"You've been in hospital for three days, in intensive care for two of them."

Draco blinked in surprise, forgetting to breathe for several precious moments until the warning whine of the machine reminded him to, the oxygen so much sweeter than it had been. Three days. Three days since the party, since- since something he couldn't remember but his very being shied away from. He looked at Blaise, eyes scouring over every inch of his face.  
"I've been here almost the whole time," Blaise admitted, rubbing one hand against the roughness of his own jaw, a faint redness tinting his cheeks. Draco tilted his head slightly, pillow rustling behind him and saw the spread of papers abandoned onto the floor, the heavy charcoal scrawl of Blaise's handwriting visible through the paper. And next to them-

"I was trying to be helpful," Blaise admitted with a small chuckle, seeing where Draco's gaze had landed. Carefully nestled in between technical diagrams and scraps of colourful fabric were Draco's school books, half spilling out of the canvas bag he used to carry them to and from the school where he worked. One was balanced on the top, pen strokes that were unmistakeably Blaise's littering the top.  
Draco turned his face to Blaise, raising an eyebrow.  
"I have helped you mark them before," Blaise countered, raising his one free hand in surrender, "I thought-" he paused, voice breaking, drawing in a steadying breath before he continued, "I thought when you woke up you'd appreciate them being finished."  
He glanced over his shoulder before shrugging at Draco, "Why does it take so long? Your workload is insane."  
Draco grinned, the action uncomfortable, muscles moving that hadn't in days, gripping Blaise's hand hard enough that his fingernails left crescents in his tan skin.  
"Draco," Blaise began, leaning forward, eyes searching his face for something, Draco couldn't tell, "I-"

"Mister Malfoy, Doctor's here for you," the nurse called as she swung the door open, Blaise leaning back as if burnt.  
"I'm sorry sir, but I'm going to need you to step outside while the doctor looks him over and takes the tube out," she told Blaise, a note of steel underneath the warmness in her voice.  
"Yeah, yeah, of course. Can he drink after the tubes taken out?" Blaise asked, the chair screeching against the floor as he stood up.

"Should be fine but nothing too extreme," the nurse said, her gaze softening minutely as she looked upon the two of them.  
"Coffee Draco? Can't promise anything quality but it'll be caffeine," Blaise asked, fiddling with the tips of Draco's fingers, callouses running against softer skin.  
Draco gave him a thumbs up, delighting in the grin that got him, the past few days of fear seeming to slide from Blaise's shoulders, his face lighting up.  
"Be back soon," he said, nodding to the nurse as he slipped past her.

Draco relaxed back into the pillow, reaching one hand up to rub at his head, a gesture picked up from too many long nights and not enough sleep. Something was tangled in his hair, woven into the plaits he vaguely remembered Blaise weaving his hair into before they left for the party. Carefully, one eye on the nurse as she bustled around his room, checking the machine which was thankfully silent, tapping the IV bag that fed into his hand, the needle a dull ache, Draco unwound a small blue flower from his hair, the blossom's spikes intact and healthy.  
"Your young man brought those in for you," the nurse said with a conspiratorial whisper and a wink, "Cornflowers I believe, definitely unusual so I looked them up. They mean 'hope', isn't that lovely? Very romantic."  
Draco nodded numbly, unable to say anything even if he didn't have a tube down his throat, mind blank of everything but the tiny blue flower in his hand.

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Water ran past him, ran through him, Draco's body dissolving and slipping away from him as he sunk lower and sunk beneath the quicksilver waves, moon gazing impassively down at him, an uncaring god. Silence but for the steady thump of his heart in his ears. He was dying, but he didn't care, this wasn't the end it was an escape from- from something. The reason escaped him, darting just out of reach, concealed behind the silver fog of memory.

"Hello dear."  
Draco groaned, yanking the blankets over his head in a vain attempt to block out the sudden light, head swimming from the unexpected surprise catapulting him into wakefulness.  
"I see your young man has dropped off some new flowers for you," the nurse trilled, placing a bottle of pills down on the tray table and scooping up his chart, her pen dancing across his chart, before she moved to check his IV bag.  
"When can I leave?" Draco asked from under the duvet, wriggling one hand out and blindly groping for the open bottle.  
"When the doctor says you can," the nurse answered as she did every morning.  
Draco poked his head out of the blanket so she could see his eyeroll before he took the pills, wincing at the bitter taste. It still bugged him, a hole in his memory that he couldn't help poking out, like a lost tooth.

He awoke each morning gasping for air, a panic that seemed to sink into his very soul and then it would pass, a cloud skittering over the moon. He chanced a glance at Blaise's chair, heart skipping a beat when he saw the faintest hint of shadow, but no. Blaise had had to return to work, setting the nurses whispering about the lack of compassion from companies when a partner was ill, each one fluttering around him as Draco was made of freshly spun glass and was liable to spin out of control and shatter without Blaise. That was accurate, but not in the ways they thought. The web of scars across his back, the longer ones that looped around his arms were something he normally kept hidden, both from personal preference and out of necessity for his job. No-one wanted someone potentially unstable near their children even if it had been almost a decade since seventeen-year-old Draco had dragged himself out of the pit of his own making, fixing his gaze on the future rather than on the mire of his past. Blaise had helped him more than the other would ever know, in so many small ways it was impossible for Draco to name.

Draco sighed, head swimming with the crush of memories, Blaise deeply entangled in each and every one. He glanced over at the newest flowers, petals still damp with dew and loosely held together with twine, balanced in an old drinking glass. An explosion of red petals nearly masked the tiny purple blossoms peeking out from underneath.  
"Where is he finding all of these?" Draco wondered aloud, reaching out to trace a careful fingertip across the delicate surface.

"Not sure dear. It's very romantic, you picked a fine young man," the nurse called over her shoulder as she slipped out of the door before Draco could response, his cheeks burning. It never got any easier, their mistaken belief that Blaise was his boyfriend? Partner? Whatever. That Blaise was his. It hadn't been corrected at first so Blaise could stay at his bedside, absolutely soaked to the bone according to the good authority of the nurses. And now? It was nice, a warm flickering in his chest, heat in his cheeks and the urge to do something more. But every time the same wave of fear, old and ancient and very much alive, would rear its head and Draco would be lost once more to it. So, he kept quiet and watched instead, falling back into his old habits of studying Blaise.

He hadn't changed much over the years. He had grown taller and stronger, easily surpassing Draco in both of those categories and yet... Draco could still see the same little boy with two missing front teeth and a smile as wide as can be standing on his doorstep, hands covered in paint and wanting to play. It had become almost a habit, studying Blaise, a way of calming the racing thoughts in his head with the one constant in his life. He knew the exact way Blaise preferred his tea; the way he always laid out his clothes for the morning rush even when he was drunk and stumbling around their shared room; Draco knew the exact fragrance Blaise wore, burying his face into his shoulder just to get the smallest bit closer. He knew Blaise had never had a serious partner, always keeping them two arms lengths away, childhood resentment and unease twisting into his own impressive suit of armour. And yet he let Draco in.

At some point, as easy as breathing, between one heartbeat and the next, Draco had fallen in love with Blaise. And that was the worst thing he could do. Draco groaned, pressing his fingers into his eyes until fireworks exploded across his vision and yanked the blanket back over his head, willing himself to fall back asleep until Blaise returned and brought with him hope and joy and fear all rolled into one. Draco was helpless before him and the other man didn't even know.

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"Still nothing?"  
Draco sighed, shaking his head as he pulled Blaise's cardigan tighter around his shoulders, relishing in the warmth it provided. Flashes had slowly trickled back as he had improved, triggered by the smallest thing: the scratch of a pen as he flicked through yet another textbook, words blurring together; the squeak of the cart rolling down the corridor; the clink of glasses together. The memories felt too real, heart hammering in his chest, throat tightening. Draco could remember the bike ride to the beach party, the feeling of Blaise so close to him and yet too far away twisting through his thoughts; the crackling of the fire and the warmth on his bare feet; Blaise's face too close to his, eyes seeming to stare into Draco's soul and then the harsh chill of the water wiping out everything else.

"Doctor said it's not surprising given the alcohol and the drowning," Blaise offered in comfort, head on a constant rotation as he scanned up and down the corridor.  
"Blaise what did I do?" Draco asked, frustration slipping into his voice, pen drumming out a fast beat against the textbook lying open on his lap, "Every time I try to remember, I get this panic in my chest and I know it involves you and I just-"

Blaise froze in the doorway, face turned away and shoulders tense for one long moment.  
"Budge up then. I'm not having you run off again," Blaise said finally with a sigh. Draco shifted to one side on the bed, sheets rustling and Blaise scrambled up, wrapping one arm securely around Draco's waist.  
"I'm not sure where to start," Blaise said, gaze fixed on the ceiling, twisting a flower stem round and round in his free hand, the scent of oranges filling the air. Draco curled closer, tucking his head into the crook of Blaise's neck, feeling his heartbeat beneath his cheek.  
"Did I say something to you?" Draco murmured, ringing in his ears as he waited, balanced on a knife edge.

"You said you loved me."  
Draco tried to move, to run, to escape from his world crashing down around his ears but Blaise kept him next to him, chin resting on his head to trap Draco next to him.  
"You said you'd loved me forever, said you were so scared of losing me, of watching me slip away and there being nothing you could do."  
"What did you say?" Draco whispered, nails digging into his palms, staring blindly at the wall.  
"I said I was in love with you too, that I didn't want to lose you, that I wanted to be with you, but you couldn't hear me."  
Blaise's voice cracked, breath hitching as he tilted his face, burying it into the top of Draco's head.  
"You ran away and I couldn't find you until someone pulled you out of the ocean. You'd gotten lost and fell in. I thought you were dead, and I couldn't do anything but watch you die."

"I'm sorry," Draco breathed, wriggling until he was nose to nose with Blaise, the tears rolling down his face mirrored on the other, "You're better than I ever deserved."  
"Funny," Blaise chuckled weakly, "I would say the same about you."  
"Try again?" Draco offered, scrubbing the tears away from his face and offering a tissue to Blaise who gratefully accepted.  
"Hi Draco, I'm Blaise. Would you like to go a date with me once you're out of the hospital?"  
Hi Blaise, I'd love to."  
Blaise's grin was everything Draco had ever hoped for, warmth washing away the drowning panic that had haunted him, as he tucked the orange scented flower behind Draco's ear, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek.

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**An Evening I Will Not Forget/Furthest Thing - Dermot Kennedy: Listened to the song while I was writing, tried to incorporate lyrics that stuck out eg the colours of the flowers for 'purple, blue, orange, red', the act of confessing and then running away, it also seemed to be about pining after someone you believe you can't have which influenced a large part of the direction of this fic;**

**Watching someone from afar [action]: Both Draco and Blaise are observing the other while holding themselves emotionally distant as they believe the other is too good for them so it's not physical distance but emotional;**

**Teacher [job]: My Mam works as a teacher and the marking never goes away, regardless of holidays or sickness. She had chemo and was still marking books during her clearer times so I decided to incorporate that. I also get enlisted to help so I figured Blaise would as well.**


End file.
